South Maroon- It's the best

I had a pretty lucky winter this year. Going into this winter I had 14 peaks needed to finish the winter 14'er list, knowing that most of the peaks I needed demanded great conditions for a successful summit, I set my goal to get half of them. The winter started off less than stellar, there was a short window right after winter's start that conditions were pretty good, then it was pummeling snow for a few weeks. Then we miraculously got the most stable snow conditions I've seen in my short career doing these winter peaks.

Fast forward to March, and snow conditions deteriorated, and the mountains were getting more snow. I had the last week of winter off work, and there were just a few days in that span that had decent conditions. The last day of winter was showing clear skies, cold temps, and a reasonable wind forecast. Initially I was planning to give Capitol a go, but as I was going through winter Capitol trip reports, I started realizing that Capitol is doable any month of winter, while nearly all winter ascents of the Bells were in March. So I decided to give the Bells a shot.

I had very low expectations for this attempt. I have 2 friends that keep an eye on me when I'm out doing this craziness, I told them that I anticipated getting to the Bell Cord and turning back, but that if I didn't give it a shot I'd regret not knowing if it were possible.

I started just after 11pm, after my usual Village Inn routine of a skillet and pancakes in Glenwood Springs. Made good time on the road walk, 2 hours and 7 minutes to reach the end of the road.

There were no tracks past Maroon Lake, but the snow was really firm. I was in snowshoes, trail was easy to find up to Crater Lake. My last trip to this area was on December 22, way more snow on this trip.

So far everything was great, not terribly cold, and the moon was so bright I wasn't even using my headlamp. Time to start gaining some elevation.

When I reached the bottom of the garbage chute, it was decision time. I make no claims of being an expert assessor of avy conditions, and one of the reasons I do this alone is to not put others at risk. The snow felt stable, so I decided to give it a go.

I wasn't making great time up the couloir, but was getting there. Seeing the sun rise over Pyramid was pretty epic.

As I continued on, my pace continued to slow, the cord felt never ending. The last 150' or so the snow was deep and soft, felt like swimming.

When I reached the top of the couloir I ditched my snowshoes, put on crampons, and continued to my first objective, South Best Fourteener around. The initial section from the top of the couloir was the toughest. Beyond that initial section, the rest of the way to the top wasn't difficult.

Reached summit at 9:45 am, 10.5 hours from start.

I was in heaven at the top of S. Maroon. I love that mountain. Better weather would have been nice, but clear views made up for it. Spent 30 minutes or so at the top.

After taking plenty of shots from summit, sent a note to my friends that I was about to start down and across the traverse. Getting back to the top of the couloir was uneventful.

When I got back to the Bell Cord I put my snowshoes back on my pack and started up the first steep climb. It wasn't terribly hard.

I didn't take many pictures along the traverse, just wasn't really thinking about it much. The second tower was tougher than the first, it had lots of snow, I was having to clear off each ledge as I ascended, and it was a little less obvious finding the way up.

When I reached the 3rd tower, I was having a hard time seeing the way up. Went up in a few different spots only to come back down, opened up my handy 14ers.com app and looked through the pictures, the first spot I had attempted was one of the 2 suggested routes. There wasn't a ton of snow, but I was having a hard time finding a handhold near the top. The full pack, snowshoes, and my tired arms weren't making things easier. I was stuck at that 3rd tower for probably 90 minutes before deciding to raise the white flag. It was heartbreaking being so close and making the tough decision to turn back. I can't complain too much, I gave it all I had and just came up a little bit short.

Sent a note to my SAR crew that I was retreating back to the couloir, and started my way. I had brought a 30m rope, I had feared that if I made it up the one or two of the towers, but couldn't get all the way to N Maroon, I might need a safe way to get back. Smart planning on my part, but I ended up just down climbing the 2 towers, which wasn't as difficult as expected. Descending the couloir went smoothly, and before I knew it I was back to my tracks at Crater Lake.

The rest of the trip was fine, saw my first people of the day at the Maroon Lake parking area, a couple that had snowmobiled up the road. They offered me a ride down, I declined, told them that would be cheating. Hung out for a bit at the parking area to give my shoulders some relief before strapping snowshoes on my pack and heading down the road. The last few miles were brutal on my shoulders, as expected.

It was the end of a great winter, and though I came up a bit short of getting both bells, it was one more peak than I expected to get.

Thanks for reading. PS I love South Maroon, its the best.